How to Cancel a PayPal Payment

PayPal, as a financial institution, gives you the ability to cancel payments that haven’t been accepted by the recipient, especially those that don’t have an active PayPal account yet.

Cancelling a PayPal payment is only available when you mistakenly make a payment to an email or phone number that isn’t registered on the app.

However, if the details are already registered, you have to resort to other options, such as chargebacks or sending a refund request by mail.

This issue is similar to an already accepted cash app payment, as it can only be cancelled if the payment hasn’t been claimed.

The recipient will also receive an email/SMS alerting them to the payment via PayPal, with a link to accept it by creating a PayPal account.

Whatever the case may be, I’ll show you how to cancel a PayPal payment you’ve already sent and get your money back on both iPhone and Android devices.

I’ll also show you how to cancel a recurring PayPal payment to avoid future charges from the merchant. 

Why can’t I cancel a payment on PayPal? 

Before we go into the topic of today, let’s see some scenarios where you can’t cancel a payment on PayPal. 

• The email or phone number the payment was sent to isn’t attached to a PayPal account. 
• The account owner hasn’t verified the email or phone number. 

Those are the only two scenarios that’ll make a payment eligible for cancellation on the PayPal platform. 

Moreover, making payments to a non-existent email/phone number on PayPal will keep the money on hold for 30 days. If the payment isn’t accepted during that time, it will automatically be cancelled and refunded to your PayPal account. 

Nevertheless, if the recipient quickly creates a PayPal account with that email address, then the payment should be automatically completed and transferred into the account. 

How to Cancel a PayPal Payment

PayPal has made it easy to cancel payments in both the app and the web version; they’re almost identical, but I’ll discuss both separately. 

It might sound confusing at first, but you’ll find it easy on the subsequent trial; all that’s required is to make sure the payment isn’t accepted yet. 

Once there’s a cancel link attached to the payment, then all you need to do is click on the transaction and initiate the cancellation process. 

However, if there’s no cancellation option, I’ll offer some suggestions to help you get your money back. In the meantime, let’s continue… 

How to Cancel a PayPal Payment on the Mobile App 

1. Log in to your PayPal account 
2. Scroll down to the recent activity  
3. Click on See All Completed and Pending Transactions
4. Locate the payment and click on it
5. Click on the “Cancel” button attached to the payment. 

That’s it.  

Now, for those who don’t make use of the PayPal app, let’s see how to cancel a payment from the PayPal website. 

How to Cancel a PayPal Payment on PayPal Web 

It’s almost the same procedure, whether you’re doing the payment cancellation from your desktop or mobile browser. 

• Log in to your PayPal account 
• Go to the activity tab > Click on View All 
• Locate the sent payment under the completed tab 
• Click the “Cancel” button on the payment. 

That’s all. 

You should now receive the funds back to your funding source, though most of the time, PayPal refunds the cancelled payment to your PayPal balance rather than your funding source. 

You can then decide to transfer the funds back to the source or proceed to use them for PayPal transactions. 

You can also watch the video below for more understanding of how to cancel a payment on PayPal.

Can you cancel a PayPal Payment? 

Yes, if the payment is sent to an email or phone number that isn’t registered on the PayPal app.

Also, you have to act quickly, since the payment notification might prompt the recipient to create a PayPal account immediately, thereby accepting the payment. 

How to Cancel a Recurring PayPal Payment (Subscription) 

If you’ve used your PayPal account to pay for services on some merchant sites, then you’d be asked if you’d like to turn on recurring payments from the source. 

If you’ve been using your PayPal account for a subscription and would like to change your mode of payment or opt out of the service, then here is a quick guide to doing that. 

Before now, subscriptions could be cancelled on the PayPal app, but at the time of publication, recurring payments could only be cancelled on the PayPal website.

• Log in to your account. 
• Click on the three vertical lines at the top right corner of the app and select “Pay & Get Paid.” 
• Scroll down and click on “Subscriptions” under the “Accept Payments” tab 

Alternatively, 

You can follow this guide. 

• Log in to your PayPal account. 
• Click on the three vertical lines at the top right corner of the screen > Select “Account Settings. “ 
• Click onthe “ Money, Banks and Cards” options 
• You can now manage automatic payments by scrolling to the last option. 

That’s it. 

Also, do well to cancel the payment at least 24 hours in advance; if not, you’ll likely be charged for that month. 

What to do if there is no option to cancel a PayPal Payment? 

If you weren’t able to cancel the PayPal payment on time, maybe you didn’t notice it, or you don’t know how to cancel the payment. 

Then there are a series of alternatives you can use to get your payment back, but they don’t guarantee you’ll get it back; you can only try. 

Generally, payments sent to family and friends are hard to recover, especially when the recipient is unwilling to return them. 

Firstly, you could politely reach out to the recipient via email, ask them to issue a refund in the app, and see what their response is. If they’re honest, then you’ll get your refund. 

Secondly, if it’s a goods-and-services payment, you can report an issue with the transaction; filing a chargeback will prompt PayPal to investigate and ensure you get your refunds if you provide sufficient evidence. 

That’s all. 

Doing the above doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get your money back, though. All you can do is try, but PayPal does offer customer protection if you made the payment for goods or services. 

Conclusion. 

We’re all bound to make mistakes, even when it comes to monetary transactions, which is why we’ve provided this article to help you stop a sent PayPal payment. 

If you mistakenly send money to the wrong PayPal account and would like to cancel it as soon as possible, follow these steps to cancel PayPal payments on both the app and the web platform. 

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